Tesla had problems with its Falcon Wing doors — but crazy car doors have a long history

Tesla
Tesla's Falcon Wing doors are among the most recognizable features found on any car on the market today. No other SUV, let alone mass-production vehicle, is fitted with doors that are quite as interesting and packed with technology as the Falcon Wings.

Not only are they they electronic — they're packed with a variety of sensors that can detect how much room there is around the car to prevent dings and dents.

From the get-go, people recognized that there would be engineering challenges associated with putting together doors as complex as those found the Model X. As it turns out, Tesla did indeed encounter for than a few problems getting these smart doors to work properly.

According to a lawsuit filed by the automaker in federal court this week, Tesla ran into numerous challenges, including a planned hydraulic-actuation system that overheated, leaked fluid, and drooped. In fact, Tesla had to completely scrap the hydraulic system and design an electric one just four months prior to the rollout of the production cars.

In a press conference at the launch of the Model X, CEO Elon Musk admitted that the some of the SUV's tech features — such as the doors — proved to be an absolutely nightmare to put into production.

But Tesla isn't the first company to come face-to-face with a an unconventional door system. From the Lincoln Continental's "suicide doors" to the DeLorean's "gull wings," the automotive history books are bedecked with funky door designs.

The most common doors these days are the swing out and the sliding designs. With the exception of a few exotics, virtually every car in the world today uses these two formats. So why not others? Well, they're unconventional for a reason. The aesthetic beauty of designs such as the gull wing belie their practical shortcomings.

Upswing doors tend to have a higher propensity for leaking and a higher center of gravity, which make the car less stable around corners. Furthermore, getting out of a car with gull-wing doors if the vehicle rolls over on its roof is particularly tricky. Mercedes had to resort to using explosive bolts on the door hinges that trigger if the car rolls over.

Eccentricities aside, upswinging doors tend to be part some of the most exquisitely designed cars in the world.

The Falcon Wing doors on the Tesla Model X are one of the electric crossover's most distinct features. The doors are controlled by a series of electric actuators and have the first ultrasonic sensors that can see through metal.

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Unlike other upswinging door designs, the Falcon Wings are double-hinged, which gives them an added level of dexterity.

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Due to the Model X's sizable battery pack mounted under the passenger cabin, the heavy Falcon Wing doors do not destabilize the crossover in corners.

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Aside from the Model X, most of the other cars to feature unconventional doors tend be much more exotic.

During the 1960s and '70s, Mercedes used a series of gull-wing experimental prototypes called the C111 to test out a variety of engine technologies, ranging from Diesel to Wankel Rotary engines.

During the '80s, DeLorean made the gull wing cool once more.

Today, the gull-wing legacy continues with this car.

The Pagani Huayra.

Other interesting designs include the Dihedral Synchro Helix doors on the Koenigsegg Regera mega-car.

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And the rearward-hinged upswinging doors on the multimillion-dollar Lykan Hypersport.

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For its Z1 sports cars, BMW chose to take doors in a different direction. Instead of opening up or out ...

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... The Z1's doors dropped into the car.

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On a more conventional note, the classic Lincoln Continental helped keep the suicide doors in the public consciousness. So what are suicide doors?

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These are suicide doors. They are a set of doors — one front-hinged and one rear-hinged— that open out. These days, suicide doors are most prominently displayed on some high-end exotics, such as the Rolls-Royce Ghost and ...